


Always Ending

by Urbenmyth



Series: Tales Beyond The Archives [15]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: In an number of levels, Let's be pretentious about the nuclear mutants, Me dealing with certain fears, Old Age, The extinction always had obvious generational overtones, let's do it, so fuck it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27705443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urbenmyth/pseuds/Urbenmyth
Summary: Global floods. Nuclear Explosions. Asteroid strikes. There are a thousand great and terrible Extinctions.But there are maybe many more quiet ones every day.
Series: Tales Beyond The Archives [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965088
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Always Ending

Sat in her hospital bed, Lauren coughed. Her eyes weren’t what they used to be, but even she couldn’t miss it when the figure walked into her room.

It twitched forwards like a broken animatronic. Made of rusted scrap metal, a ragged gas mask on its face, it looked down at her. Only a flickering green light from the sockets implied any mind.

She sneered up at it. She’d spit, if her throat was wet enough.

“Here you are, then.”

She chuckled grimly.

“You didn’t get me in the end, did you? All that fear, and you failed.”

It looked impassive.

“All the disasters, all the global warming, all the pandemics, all the nuclear saber rattling, and look at me! I fought it, and I’m old! I got old, and the world got old. When I go, it’s going to be some mundane disease, not some grand apocalypse. I stopped you. What do you think of that?”

It looked impassive.

“I survived the end of the world! Humanity rebuilt! We survived! We survived your Terrible Change! You lost!”

It looked impassive

“Well? Nothing to say? No mysterious radio or cryptic code? No final threat? Talk to me!”

It spoke. A crackling, Geiger-counter voice.

“ **You** . Have. Not. Escaped. Us.”

“What do you mean? Another apocalypse? A second threat? Bring it on then! We’ll get through it, just like the last one!”

It shook its head, slowly and deliberately

“ **Where** . Is. Your. World?”

“What do you mean? The world’s outside! We repaired it!”

It shook its head, slowly and deliberately

“ **No** .  **Where** . Is.  _ Your _ . World?”

“What do you mean?”

It stood up, abruptly. It grasped a photo on her bedside.

“ **Your** . Wife. Dead.  **Your** . Job. Obsolete.  **Your** . World. Forgotten.”

Lauren struggled to get up, snarling. “Shut up.”

“ **There** . Was. A. World. That. Was. Yours.  **One** . You. Understood.  **One** . You. Fit. Into.  **Remember** .”

It looked out the window.

“Outside. Strange. People. Are. Speaking. Strange. Words. And. Using. Strange. Machines.”

“I grew up! I grew up to help this world exist!”

“ **And** . It. Is. Not. Yours.  **You** . Sit. Away. In. A. Room. Forgotten.  **You** . Got. Old.”

Lauren glared at it. She was too frail to fight, if it chose to kill her, but she wouldn’t let it win this ideological battle.

“I just got old. That’s not  _ you _ . ”

“ **The** . World. You. Know. Is. Forgotten. Gone. Destroyed.”

It tilted its head, and under the mask, she could sense the smile.

“ **The** . World. Is.  _ Always _ . Ending.”

“The world exists!”

“ **But** . Yours. Does. Not.”

Lauren refused to dignify it with a response. It kept talking.

“ **Your** . Body. Is. Frail. Deformed.  **Your** . Way. The. World. Works. Is. Obsolete.  **Inheritors** . Claim. This. Place.”

It laughed, a storm of static and distortion.

“ **You** . Mythologize. Us.  **Great** . Destroyers.  **Enders** . Of. Worlds.  **But** . We. Have. Been. Here. Since. Humans. First. Grew. Old.”

Lauren sat up, fueled with rage.

“I’m happy to leave the world to the next generation! I’m happy! I’m not some angry old woman resentful at what’s to come.”

It didn’t respond. It simply watched.

“I’m happy for this change. I’m not scared of it.”

“ **Is** . That. So.”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

“ **Then** . What. If. I. Made. You. Young.”

“What?”

“ **You** . Know. We. Can.  **Would** . You.”

“I….”

Lauren thought, her mind spiraling through spite and loneliness and regret and pride and joy and fear. After a few minutes, The same static laugh filled the room.

“ **So** . I. Thought.”

“I didn’t say yes!”

“ **But** . You. Didn’t. Say. No.”

It turned mechanically, creakingly.

“ **We** . Do. Not. Need.  _ The _ . World. To. End.”

It stood up, metal bones creaking.

“ **We** . Are. From. Death.  **We** . Too. Need. Only. Wait..”

It left the room, shadow burnt into the wall.

“ **Enjoy** . This. New. World. Human.  **This** . Bright. And. Shining. Future. Without. You.”

And it left. The metallic clanks echoed down the halls, before slowly fading away.

Sat in her bed, Lauren looked down at her wrinkled, weak body. She reached, with effort, to the photograph where the creature had dropped it.

Lauren looked at the image of her old life, where she was young and beautiful and happy. She remembered who she was, when she understood the world, when she was fighting the Extinction in both its mundane and paranormal senses.

She coughed, deep hacking coughs, and the photo fell to the floor and shattered.

Around her the strange machines of her cold hospital room beeped as a young doctor came in and asked if she needed any help.

She looked at them, and try as she might, she didn’t quite know what to say in response.


End file.
